Mar 07, 2021 Issue 2

CampusMONDAY, MARCH 8, 2021 / VOLUME 148, ISSUE 2 Times SERVING THE UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER COMMUNITY SINCE 1873 / campustimes.org URAC Holds Protest During Mangelsdorf Event, Demands Action By Henry Litzky and Haven Worley PHOTO EDITOR and NEWS EDITOR On Thursday, the UR Abolition Coalition (URAC) staged a protest at the in-person Casual Conversa- tions with President Mangelsdorf event. During the event, students repeated their demands for changes to the Department of Public Safety (DPS) to Mangelsdorf directly. This move follows last semester’s overnight occupation of the DPS parking lot where URAC protestors voiced their demands to University President Sarah Manglesdorf and DPS chief Mark Fischer, who promised further discussion. “[President Manglesdorf] had promised us that night [...] that she would be starting to actually have progress with this mental health task force to institute Daniel’s [Law] on campus, and ensure that cops [...] and campus police do not respond to mental health calls on this campus,” URAC orga- nizer and senior Antoinette Nguyen said. “Howev- er, there’s been no update regarding that.” The protest began at the steps of Rush Rhees Li- brary, where many of their actions have started in the past. At around 4:30 p.m., organizers went over the plans to the group of roughly 30 people around the steps. HENRY LITSKY / PHOTO EDITOR They departed the steps at 4:36 p.m. and walked son Commons and then Rush Rhees, armed with cially for admin,” URAC member and junior Katie down Eastman Quad chanting, “What do we want? hundreds of paper flyers that listed The Students’ Hardin said. “Bringing it to her instead of letting Care, not cops! When do we want it? Now!” Demands and included two QR codes for students her hold all the cards in this situation [...] was one They soon arrived at the Wilson Quad tent where to read more about the movement. of the best things we could have done.” President Mangelsdorf and various sophomores Sophomore Courtney Jung and first-year Mira “They did feel physically unsafe but that is some- were talking. Chaskes, who were in the library during that time, thing they can . That’s how students feel on this Protestors lined the fence around the tent while were “taken aback” and “caught off guard” when campus with DPS,” URAC member and junior Indy URAC demonstrator and sophomore Andre Tull- they saw the large group enter the library, but ap- Marring said. och read a prepared speech to the President. preciated their conduct. URAC plans to hold another virtual town hall “You and your administration behave as though “They definitely made their presence known, but sometime in the future, although the date is un- you actually support radical change for the Univer- without being too disruptive,” Chaskes said. known at the time of this article’s publication. sity, but all you have for us is empty promises and Jung, who was in the middle of completing a cal- Though the future of their demands is uncertain, fruitless committees,” Tulloch told the President. culus problem on a whiteboard, stopped her work what remains certain is that URAC is here to stay. “We, the students, are fighting hard to actually see to look into the movement briefly. “I like how they “I believe the president saw us and heard us. change. Last fall, we slept outside in the cold in front were being respectful and knowing it’s a library,” Whether or not she was listening, I don’t know. I of DPS in order to get the attention of those who Jung said. “They wanted to prove their message in didn’t feel like it,” Marring said. “But she definitely say they hear us and want to make the changes. Our a way that is not benign, but more subtle, so you feel saw and heard us. And we will meet with her later meeting with you has been thwarted by bureaucrat- more accepting [of] their message.” this month to see if she’s listening.” ic red tape time and time again. We demand that if URAC organizers expressed optimism after the To follow for more updates, make sure to check you really care about these issues and the students protest and stressed the importance of pressuring out URAC’s Instagram here. here, that you prioritize this meeting.” the administration. Worley is a member of Tulloch went on to read the URAC’s demands “It’s important that we made her feel uncomfort- the Class of 2023. before the demonstration moved on into Wilson able and not only her, but everybody that’s in her Litsky is a member of Commons. The large group, which had gained circle, because that feeling of being uncofortable is the Class of 2023. some sophomore supporters, swarmed into Wil- something that is kind of rare on this campus, espe- Mass resignation leaves SA with 11 senators By Corey Miller-Williams but it is opaque by default.” that, ‘Oh, everything is okay,’ or saying that they’re MANAGING EDITOR In a later interview with the Campus Times, Li- doing the best that they can, because they’re really ang referenced an incident last year when a stu- not. So if we have to be aggressive in our method Mass resignation leaves SA with 11 senators dent harassed a group of Tibetan students and of advocacy, then so be it. If we have to show up 12 senators have resigned from the Students’ As- monks meeting in Starbucks, which sparked a to protests, if we have to show up as a collective.” sociation (SA) over the past two weeks, citing their campus-wide debate on the autonomy of regions Referencing an hour and a half meeting plan- belief that SA’s bureaucracy makes it difficult to that China claims as part of their country. ning the resignation the night before, Ntshangase affect real change. “This is sort of what drove me to run for student called out his fellow senators for not being able Senior and former senator Amanda Liang spear- government, was just that whole incident, and how to come to a consensus on whether to resign en headed the mass resignation in a speech she de- everyone fucking did nothing. Didn’t say anything, masse, as well as for making little effort within livered during the senate meeting on Feb. 22. In didn’t have the balls to stand up for anything, or their roles and sometimes not showing up to sen- this speech, she described SA as a “gatekeeper” release a statement,” she said. ate meetings. that softens student activism until it becomes in- Senior and former senator Sakhile Ntshangase, “I think we’re lying to ourselves,” he said. “I don’t effective. who was previously an Opinions Editor for CT, think we’re honest to ourselves. So either we’re all “I refuse to continue participating and legitimis- said he agreed with Liang, and called on his fellow going to resign, which I’m totally down for, or we ing a bureaucracy that was built to fail,” she said. senators to become more unified and assertive in start impeaching some people in student govern- “This is a machine where not only are there scape- their dealings with the administration. ment that are not doing their job.” goats and snakes, but a systemic lack of responsi- “Accountability is not sucking up to admin,” he Sophomore and former senator Andre Tulloch bility. Policy-making may not be opaque by design said. “Accountability is not coming here and saying SEE RESIGNATION PAGE 2. INSIDE UR PROF: WANDAVISION: SPORTS GAMES ROCKY LEGAL TIMES’ 100 AMAZING (?) ARE BACK BATTLE THIS CT PAGE 4 COMMUNITY PAGE 9 CULTURE PAGE 12 SPORTS PAGE 12 SPORTS PAGE 2/campustimes.org MONDAY, MARCH 8, 2021 CAMPUS SA Senators Resign Eastman School of Music named Yamaha RESIGNATIONS FROM PAGE 1 Institution of Excellence Sophomore and former senator Andre Tulloch of topics, including audio and recording technolo- criticized SA for not supporting student activism, gy, music software utilization, and careers outside asking his fellow senators where they were for the of performance. Several Eastman faculty mem- UR Abolition Coalition DPS occupation. bers are also Yamaha artists: Professors Alexander “I was the only senator there. [...] And when I Kobrin (piano), Michael Burritt (percussion) and brought it to your attention, what did you do? What James Thompson (trumpet). did you do? None of you did nothing. I told you, “Eastman has, throughout its history, stood apart Mangelsdorf came out there. Dean Fisher came out from its peers by placing equal emphasis on artist- there, had these conversations, and none of y’all did ry, scholarship, and leadership,” Joan and Martin shit.” Messinger Dean Jamal J. Rossi said. “Eastman First-year senator Blaine Dillingham suggested graduates are positioned not only to assume the senators instead organize rallies with specific de- highest level music performance and scholarly mands and consistently find and email administra- positions across the world, but to have the dual tors to pressure them into action instead of resigning. Sarah Woodams/Contributing Photographer ability to be leaders in their respective areas of ex- Liang countered that while that would be effective, By Sanghamitra Subba pertise, as well as of creative arts organizations SA is unable to undertake that kind of direct action, NEWS EDITOR and businesses.” because it would violate various policies. Eastman has been at the forefront of the music Sophomore and former senator Rusama Haque ex- UR’s Eastman School of Music has been named a Yamaha Institution of Excellence alongside 9 curriculum and innovation of its program since pressed concern for what comes after the mass res- it was established in 1921.

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